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"Good work, Jayden and Josh." - Mitch White

A quick update for those interested, I just spent the last 2 months in the Royal Talbot rehabilitation centre with Jesse as I had a stroke myself. Jesse is doing well and has just started to walk with the aid of a crutch. There is still plenty of rehab ahead for him but being the fine young man he is I have no doubt he will meet any future challenges head on. Go Blues!

That's what I call him, although there's usually a comma in between the names.

White IN

He's in for the Darwin Game. Great news: I've always rated him and he seems like an obvious addition of class and run to what has been quite a sieve like-defence.

Almost full list on the track. H not there, Salem doing lighter drills with one of the coaches. Wagner, Pederson, JKH, Smith, all accounted for

The holes in his hands is probably why he can't mark anything

Sorry 'WW' but Dawes always seems to do everything with willingness and high energy, that's not his problem. Unfortunately it appears the game has passed him by. For mine I wouldn't have him in the team this week. If he's selected I hope I'm proved wrong and he has a blinder.

Grimes has been selected in starting 22! Hope he has a great game!

With Cross there it may not have given a chance to someone like Hunt. Loved his time at the club, but we made the right decision.

Salem worked well today at training, away from the main group, he was put through a variety of skill and maneuverability exercises with assistant coaches. He came over to where I was standing for a drink at one stage and I complimented him on how fit he looked. He thanked me and said he was two weeks away from resuming. He didn't look significantly lighter to the naked eye.

If he leaves we're going to try to make ourselves feel better any way we can. Hullet and Weidemann may be more than handy. But Jesse.... he's something else. We may not like it but if he goes there is no way we wont be worse off.

In his one game for Casey before his last bout of illness he played mainly midfield. It was the most impressive game I've seen him play albeit at VFL level. I'm hoping his fitness allows him to move from HBF. His clearance work for Casey in that game was an eye opener for me. He hasn't had a run at it at all yet. Hammy's ruined last year and illness this year. Everyone outside MFC tragics have forgotten him and in a good team he will be even better. I hold high hopes for this kid, I think he has it all.

Thanks mate, Jesse got it far worse than I did, he still has a piece of his skull bone on ice waiting to be grafted back in which is so depressing, a young man like that cut down in his prime. I'm taking him to the dees vs the blues in a few weeks and he is really looking forward to that as am I. Cheers and thanks for the good wishes.

I think we'd have to be mad. Salem isn't competing with those listed; they are competing for the spots left over once he is named in the side. Those names don't beat him for a place in the team when fully fit.

I know it's not exactly scientific, but all you have to do is watch Hogan's body language and interaction with his teammates at training or on gameday. Unless we get blown out of the water by another team paying him $2mil per year, he's with us for the long haul.

Whichever way we paint it, losing Hogan would be a very big blow to the club. Weed and Hulett might come on next year in the seniors, but we know Hogan is a bona fide star in the making and pretty close now. I'm keeping my head in the sand and refusing to consider it because losing Hogan would definitely set us back.

My theory on using Watts as a backup ruckman.. 1) he is ultra efficient when he wins the tap 2) by forcing him into a ruck contest, he becomes more confident and aggressive around the ground 3) point 1 is made up but seems legit Carn Dees!

Dazzle on the left, myself on the right. I play a mean riff.

Ban worthy statement Steve

you know you're struggling when a win against a bottom 4 team is 'memorable'. A 100+ point win would be memorable, a win should be demanded

His form has been really good, consistently our best defender and has something we lack coming out of defence...he's a good kick.

Wow! That escalated....

I wanted him to stay another year. But with Hunt and Wagner getting opportunities and doing well, it was definitely the right choice.

And then you can gnaw mine off!!

And Dawes is? At least Spencer can ruck, take a mark and snag the odd goal. Dawes.........like gravity has the ability to bring the ball to the ground, unfortunately unlike gravity he gives away silly free kicks and takes the place of a player with functioning hands.

Hurley knows well the type of deal he's going to get at the bombers, and that he's going to get similar if not more money at other clubs, i imagine if he were to come to the Dees it'd be for pretty significant money. A dream outcome would be to bring in Hurley & Hibbered as DFA's and then allow us to pick up someone like Dion Prestia via trade. In a perfect world we'd keep TMAC and Hurley would allow him to be the second call defender giving him more of a license to take the intercept marks which is his real strength.

I love at 1:00, Jesse Hogan standing on the goal line pumping his fists.

See James Aish, Jimmy Toumpas, Kane Lucas and Jono O'Rourke.

That would be an unmitigated disaster.

As much as I would love to see that & happy to be proven wrong about his value to the team.. I'm frightened that his ability to take a mark (which is already horrendous) will be further hindered by the humidity. If he's not pinch-hitting in the ruck.. I don't understand what his 'role' is.. we have enough leaders out there.. we just need 22 players to ensure the 4 points.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Thanks for the reports.

Many heading in now, mainly Seconds out on the field. That includes Oliver, Trenners, ANB, Hulett, Weiderman, Garland, Dunn, JKH, King, Spencer & Dawes. Michie went in with others, Grimes exited with main group but stayed chatting with supporters. Not sure if this is a selection predictor but Wagner still on the track with seconds working with Crossy. Brayshaw appears to have left with main group. Dawes is being put through full on body to body work v Garland and Dunn

Very interesting to hear to listen to that insight. Sheds some light on the recruiters mindest - there was a lot of criticism on here that we took him in the national draft and didn't rookie him instead. Sounds like there was some interest from Freo in particular. Very happy we have Hunt, exactly the dynamic player we need.

I agree. His left boot gets your attention straight away but for me it was his work in close, clever use of hands and the ease with which he dealt with the pace of the game when he first started that got me excited. It's great to hear that he gained greater exposure (albeit one VFL game) to the midfield and did well. Like Hunt, I think he has the potential to play in the square but Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Tyson and Brayshaw may mean that rarely happens. These seven form an incredible young midfield group. If they realize their collective potential, I can't see how we won't be competing for premierships in the near future.

Salem has ramped it up a bit doing light body work and longer kicking. I had a word to him and he said "a couple of weeks"

Very interesting insight on Jayden Hunt from Robert Shaw, ex player and current BGS 1st XVIII coach, and also on Jack Watts and how Melbourne failed him development wise early on in his career. Go to 34.50

I am deeply in love with this guy as a player For years I've been crying out for someone in our team who is fast enough to take on his opponent but also skilled enough not to turn it over He has really changed the way we move the ball, and will become an integral part of our team

I don't use the words "stars' lightly, but Brayshaw and Oliver are going to be stars. Along with Petracca, Viney, Tyson, Salem, Stretch, Nathan Jones and potentially Hunt, we're reasonably well served for midfielders. I'm not against any mid who makes us better, but we have more pressing concerns in the back-line. There's no reason we can't address all needs, but Prestia may well be too expensive when we weigh up all considerations.

An elite midfield covers all manner of shortcomings in other parts of the ground. If we think Prestia has the potential to be an elite midfielder, then we should be prepared to pay him whatever he wants. The defensive side of our backline is okay, we just need to lessen the amount of entries we concede into defensive 50. The best way to do that is to win more clearances, particularly centre clearances. I want elite midfielders before anything else.

The longer it goes, the more I like our chances of getting both. By the sounds of it, we're more likely that we will get Hibberd across. As far as Hurley goes, he's clearly disgruntled with his club, can't blame him. I would think the tif he was staying, Essendon would've had him locked away by now. The fact they don't gives me hope, and the longer he goes without signing grows my confidence. I wonder if, as per ET's above post, Hurley is waiting for this next 5 weeks to see how we (or other clubs) are going to finish off the year. It's important for us to remember that it's in no benefit to us to not win games, unlike many clubs below us. We don't have a first rounder this year, so there's no incentive for us to not win, meaning we could finish the year with some momentum, and make us an appealing prospect for someone like Hurley.

I agree with the first sentence and whilst I also agree with you assessment of the three you mentioned there is no doubt we would be a club much worse off for Hogans departure. We would be worse off on the field as I do believe he will be our first genuine star since Robbie but also I also believe that it is just as important for us, a club, to be known as a club that can retain its most valuable assets.

This topic sums up why i stopped being a regular on demonland. Everyone is soooo critical. T-Mac is our best tall defender and one of the most promising young backs in the comp, but just because he isn't yet a bonafide A grade player group think on demonland is to 'trade the spud'.

Well, we're talking about the club kicking up a stink about our approaches to their players... only 9 months after their club's CEO, captain, and best player boarded a private jet and met with an interstate club's development coach with the sole intent to poach him. They are scumbags and hypocrites.

Lol. Of course we're having a crack at Prestia. Channel 7 news was the source of this. It's amusing how readily people will believe news sources, but I was always taught to question everything.

The outcome of this election is a minor issue for me now. I am reeling from the news that Lois Lane passed away just last Sunday and this a mere 9 months after the passing of Jimmy Olsen! And we lost Lady Penelope and Wilbur Post earlier this year! These are tragic times indeed. Why would I care who will rule this place now?

Hogan is a tremendous player and I really hope he signs with us, but if he's set on going home to Perth I hope he makes that known this year so we can do a deal while he's in contract and Freo are in the bottom 4. If we got equitable compensation for him, I've seen enough from Weidemann and Hulett, and with Watts improvement this year to feel comfortable that we could still continue our rise to challenge.

I see Fyfe as a player who plays in 4 flags for MFC before going on to coach us to another 4. Then joins the board of Collingwood as a double agent and destroys them from within. Then becomes an AFL commissioner and kicks all other clubs off the MCG and rigs the draw so we never have to travel, even to Etihad.

Best photo ever.

I had a chat to him at training on Friday Yes it is the return of the same issue Yes he has shed a bit of weight Yes he is on a different medication Yes he thinks the medicos are on track to 'fix' the issue Yes he is seeing a specialist in the condition Yes he is [censored] off the issue has returned